1. Field
This application relates to projecting image data onto a three-dimensional model.
2. Related Art
Imaging systems exist that include more than one camera in a rosette foi nation attached to a vehicle. Those imaging systems may be used to capture panoramic images, for example, along a street. Each camera in the rosette formation includes an image sensor that converts an optical signal into an electrical signal to form an image. Two types of image sensors avoid the need for a mechanical shutter an interline-shutter charge-coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor. The CMOS sensor typically has a rolling shutter, which exposes different lines of the scene at slightly different times, in a sequence that rolls across the image. As a result, different pixels of the scene within each image sensor may be captured at a somewhat different time.
To deal with warping and ghosting issues caused by the variations in exposure time, the various cameras may be coordinated as described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0201361. However, even with these methods, different pixels of the resulting panoramic image may have different associated camera parameters. For example, because each pixel was taken from a slightly different position, each pixel may have a slightly different perspective. These errors become apparent when the image is texture mapped onto a three dimensional model. Because of the variation in camera position across an image, when the image is texture mapped from a single position associated with the image, the resulting texture map may not properly correspond to the three-dimensional model.
One approach is to project each pixel individually using camera parameters associated with that pixel. However, repeatedly projecting individual pixels may consume a large amount of computing resources, such as processing time and memory.